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Given the pressures of the coronavirus pandemic, it isn’t surprising that drinking alcohol has risen dramatically over the past year. You or someone you know has probably ordered liquor online, become very fond of ready-to-drink cocktails or thrown a Zoom quarantini party.
A spike in alcohol use, however, has also raised health concerns about a rise in heavy drinking among those particularly women who are struggling to cope as the pandemic wears on.
Total alcohol sales outside of bars and restaurants surged roughly 24 percent after the pandemic restrictions began in mid-March 2020, according to a Nielsen marketing report that NPR cited in September; sales of liquor with higher alcohol content grew by 27 percent. Drizly, an online alcohol delivery service, had a 350 percent jump in sales during the pandemic, a spokeswoman told NPR.
Alarming number of women are drinking more during the pandemic
“We have this epidemic within this pandemic of substance abuse issues and depression and anxiety,” said Dr. Couey, Director at Hazelden Betty Ford Center San Diego. Author: Abbie Alford (Reporter) Updated: 9:46 PM PST February 11, 2021
SAN DIEGO During the pandemic, several studies found that Americans are drinking far more than they did in previous years and it’s women who are drinking more. While women may joke with their girlfriends that they are drinking a lot more during the pandemic, an alarming number of women are becoming heavy drinkers and they may not know they are sipping down a dangerous path.